The Local Government Bill 2013, published on 17 October, provides, in Part 10, for a plebiscite to be held in the administrative areas of the four Dublin local authorities in respect of a directly elected mayor for the Dublin metropolitan area on the same day as the local elections 2014, should the four local authorities concerned pass a resolution in that regard by 31 March 2014.
In anticipation of the Bill's provisions, I wrote to the Lord Mayor of Dublin inviting the Forum or Colloquium being established to assess options for local governance in the Dublin metropolitan area under the leadership of a directly elected mayor and identifying a number of elements which would need to be addressed when developing proposals to be put before the electorate in the plebiscite. A copy of this letter is in the Oireachtas Library. I have asked for the response of the Forum by the end of the year.